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Situational Leadership: The Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum

 A model of leadership theory which shows the relationship between the level
of freedom that a manager chooses to give to a team, and the level of authority
used by the manager.
 As the team's freedom is increased, so the manager's authority decreases. The
"contingency" approach of leadership, argues that your choice should be based
on the situation, and not on your personal preferences
 Developed by Robert Tannenbaum and Warren Schmidt.
 Tannenbaum was an
organizational psychologist
and Professor at the UCLA
Anderson School of
Management.
 Schmidt was also a
psychologist who taught at the
UCLA Anderson School of
Management.

*Tannenbaum and Schmidt argued that there are three factors to consider when
selecting a leadership style:

1. You

What is your preferred style?

What are your values?

2. Your team:

What is your relationship with your team?

Are they ready and enthusiastic to take

responsibility?

3. The situation:

How important is the work being undertaken?

How important or tight are deadlines?

What is the organizational culture?

*The "contingency" approach of leadership, argues that your choice should be based
on the situation, and not on your personal preferences.

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1. Tells

Tells The Manager decides and announces the decision.

"The problem I face is… I want you to..."

This style is useful when:

a. Urgent need to turn around a department or business

b. Situations where deadlines are critical

2. Sells/Persuade

The manager decides and then 'sells' the decision to the group.

"The problem I face is… I want you to... because..."

The leader isn’t looking for team input, but they are looking to ensure the team
understands the rationale behind the decision.

A key aspect of this approach is for the leader to explain how the decision will benefit
the team. In this way, the team will see the manager as recognizing their importance.

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3. Suggests

The manager presents the decision with background ideas and invites questions.

"The problem I face is… I want you to... What do you think...?"

Through asking questions, the team can more fully understand the rationale behind
the decision than the previous approaches. The leader isn’t going to change their
decision but they do want the team to fully understand the rationale behind it.

4. Consults

The manager suggests a provisional decision and invites discussion about it.

"The problem we face is… What ideas do you have for solving it...?"

This is the first point on the continuum where the team’s opinion can influence or
even change the decision. The leader is still in control and the ultimate decision
maker, but open to any good ideas the team may have.

5. Joins

The manager presents the situation or problem, gets suggestions, then decides.

"What is the problem we face? How can we solve it? Any ideas?"

This point is simply presenting the problem to be solved and requires more input
from the team making this approach suitable when the team is very experienced or
has specialist knowledge.

6. Delegates

The manager explains the situation, defines the parameters and asks the team to
decide.

"Problems keep cropping up... Can you see what's going on, come up with some
ideas and get back to me..."

Although the team makes the decision, it is still the leader that is accountable for the
outcome of the decision. You should use this style only with very experienced teams.

7. Abdicates

The manager allows the team to identify the problem, develop the options, and decide
on the action, within the manager's received limits.

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"Sort out any problems that crop up. I'm here if you need me but only if you really
need me."

Here the team must shape and identify the problem, analyze all the options available,
before making a decision as to how to proceed. They will then implement the course
of action without necessarily even running it by the leader.

This style can be the most motivating but can be disastrous if it goes wrong. This
style is often the way the executive boards of companies will run. Under the CEO,
each of the division heads will have complete autonomy as to how they choose to
execute the company’s strategy.

Advantages

1. As a leader, it gives you a range of ways in which to involve and interact with
your team.
2. Allows you to understand how your approach should change over time as the
situation changes.
3. Allows experimentation. You can try giving more responsibility to your team,
but if that doesn’t work and the team is not ready, you can take a step back.
4. It provides an incremental way to increase or reduce your team’s involvement
in decision making.

Disadvantages

1. Only examines the process of giving a task to your team, not what happens
next.
2. Ignores soft factors such as cultural norms and office politics.
3. It doesn’t provide a mechanism to determine is the right approach from the
continuum for your team. It leaves that up to you.

Summary

The Tannenbaum-Schmidt Leadership Continuum shows the relationship between the

level of authority you use and the freedom this allows your team. If you exercise total
authority you give your team no freedom. Conversely, if you exercise no authority
you give your team total freedom.

Both of these approaches can be useful under certain circumstances, however, most
leaders operate somewhere between these two extremes.

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